Email: A Note About our Transition into One Program
 

I got this email...

Dear Stimpy,

2018 has been a year of change for us here at Marriott and for our members. In August we combined our three loyalty programs: Marriott Rewards®, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® and SPG®, giving you access to more hotels, benefits and status than ever before. While merging our programs brought you many new benefits and options, we know that for some, the integration presented challenges, and we apologize for these difficulties.

As we move toward the end of this year, I wanted to take a moment to reiterate that our goal is always to provide you with memorable travel experiences and to make you feel like a valued part of the Marriott family. With that in mind, I want to personally thank you for your ongoing support, patience and loyalty during a challenging year.

You’ll be hearing more from us next year when we introduce our new brand name, representing the most rewarding loyalty program in hospitality. I want to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, and we look forward to welcoming you at our 29 extraordinary hotel brands around the world in the new year and for many years to come.

Best,
David Flueck
SVP, Global Loyalty

Pretty vanilla. But is it correct that they are down to 29 brands now? What did they cut?

I assume its the Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts brand since it was never mentioned at the bottom of 29 Ways to Stay but its still listed on their Hotel Brands section. (These properties don't participate in the program)

I got the email to, frankly been better not sending anything rather than this excuse of an apology! I also feel the use of personally is completely out of context when its an email sent to in the hundreds of millions of people!

Just makes me think they really out a far way removed from the real world and what their members actually think and want!

I got it too but not sure why they would waste our time sending out an email like that without addressing the elephant in the room when it comes to program integration. Email makes it seem like all is well and has been but issues are continuing.

Another missed opportunity to do more than just offer a minimal apology...

and I that was expecting a fax ...

Have I mentioned that I got the same email ... they didn't give different emails depending on status :):)

Seems to me its perfectly appropriate for an end of year email and appreciate that he realizes it required patience and had challenges.

30 seconds of my life I'll never be able to get back (+ add another 30 for this reply ;) )

They should remove The Ritz Carlton Reserve properties as well since they not participate in the program.
FTers would be up to date about those non participation of RC Reserves (and RC Singapore) but I bet plenty of members who are not really up to date with loyalty programmes will be confused about that.

Especially if RC Rewards promotional emails still promoting RC Reserves and RC Singapore

Ironic, since in my opinion, they killed the most rewarding loyalty program in hospitality. :(

Maybe by killing "The Most Rewarding Loyalty Program in Hospitality", MR mediocre program can become most rewarding one :D

I'll agree with others that the email said very little. But it certainly shows how Marriott is in a no-win situation. For many of us, the biggest grip was they didn't communicate during the integration and resulting issues. Now they communicate, and it's going to get ripped just about as much.

Perhaps for anyone who is above Silver level, Arne should knock on your door during the holidays and hand-deliver a nice gift basket as a personal apology, even for those customers who've had an extremely smooth integration. Of course, the longest thread of 2019 would then be how Marriott was so rude to interrupt your holiday celebration.

Ultimately, this is a typical end of year email like many companies send out to their customers, with the addition of a small apology for the troubles this year. Standard "next year will be better" message that we all want going into a new year.

Some people will be glad to see a public acknowledgement along with an apology. Others will wish that had come bundled with some free points or a certificate of some sort as a means of compensation for the frustration (extreme in some cases) they've endured.

I personally just think it was an opportunity missed - a corporate message such as this should've at least included something tangible, such as firming up a hard date for the new program or something along that line. I would've liked to have finished reading that e-mail knowing something I didn't know going in.

But let's at least recognize that he didn't dismiss anyone as "fringe," he didn't claim that all systems are now a go in spite of clear evidence to the contrary, and he did in fact apologize - something that many around here have called for repeatedly.

Actually they put RC Reserves separately from RC under Distinctive Luxury section along with Bvlgari, Luxury Collections, and ... interestingly W Hotels
(RC is under Classic Luxury)

And about Singapore RC, I guess the issue is RCR promoting the property through RC Rewards spam mails :D
Like I said, while we all know very well that they not participated, I got feeling some members who didnt realise that might get upset.
Some negative reviews of that property is complaining about the non participation :D

Personally, I doubt MR people is ready for setting everything in stone yet.
They have more pressing issues at this stage such as that IT messed up and data breach

I wont be surprised if the introduction of the new program delayed from the January 2019 target

You may very well be proven correct. Who knows - maybe the e-mail was sent in place of something they'd hoped to be announcing by now!

I didn't get an email.

It was your typical corporate email, honestly it did not say much and I would not expect it to. Now with that being said overall my complaint with Marriott is they now have done the worst loyalty program merger ever by far passing UA with CO, and still do not address it or I personally think do not have a plan in place. I am surprised Hilton and others have not been running a lot of promos and mentioning status challenges, but maybe they are waiting until the beginning of the year when people have more lee way to try.

And I posted it 15 minutes after receiving the email. If people care about such things. :)

Looks to me like just another manipulative marketing email :?

And I promptly deleted the email after skimming.

I will never get the hours I spent on the phone resolving issues back.

Two lumps of coal for the 'new and improved' Marriott this holiday season.

It would be nice if they would acknowledge your status.

No, it doesn't. The word mistake or a true synonym doesn't appear in the message, as far as I can tell. What he wrote is: "we know that for some, the integration presented challenges, and we apologize for these difficulties."

It would have been nice to read "we have made mistakes that may have caused problems for you, and I apologize for that."

What they instead wrote sounds to me much like the classic non-apology apology we so often come across these days.

But hey, I get a free new passport if I can just prove to them that they were at fault. So yippee... all is forgiven... :)

I can already see all the additional emails about folk who'll note that the status they were acknowledged by was not correct...
We have all seen the emails about people that their status is not right. Many have noted how they qualified by SPG stays for example but their status won't be updated until IT does its sweep in 2019...

I, for one, feel the email was fine. I agree there wasn't any new information but I spent a couple of minutes reading it and then moved on.

I didn't get the e-mail, and I haven't had access to a facsimile machine in almost 20 years. What took the BBC minutes to report took MaRiot 12 days to get delivered to me. Maybe they've started scanning faxes to e-mail them one by one.

I do not correlate "full of hot air" or "lacking in substance" with manipulative marketing. But then, what do I know.

Clap on, Clap off, clap on, clap off, your ch ch ch Chia.

Maybe these are the new mining jobs we've been hearing about.

Some people just would prefer an honest non-corporate speak email instead of one authored/reviewed by a committee of lawyers and spin meisters.

And others would rather attack other members expressing their opinion about the message (the topic of this thread).

I believe that you mean that Marriott has exceeded unreasonable customer expectations.
When I got my kitchen renovated recently, I dealt with the inconvenience, with the knowledge that once the dust clears (literally) I will have a sparkling brand new kitchen.The same logic applies here.
Marriott has done, and I suspect will continue to do, a yeoman's job in keeping its members up-to-date on all changes since the initial roll-out.

And many of us appreciate the good holiday wishes coming from the highest levels.
Sadly, some here won't stop their Marriott-bashing until they get Arne Sorenson's head on a silver platter. It's really kinda sad they sink so low as to attack a holiday greeting.

Newman